First Aid Guide

1. Check for danger — make sure it is safe for you to approach.
2. Check response: tap the shoulders firmly and shout "Are you okay?"
3. Shout for help. Send someone to call 112 / 911 / 999 and to find a defibrillator (AED). Alone? Call first yourself, on speaker.
4. Open the airway: tilt the head back, lift the chin. Look, listen and feel for normal breathing — no more than 10 seconds. Occasional gasps are NOT normal breathing.
5. Not breathing normally? Start compressions. Heel of one hand on the centre of the chest, other hand on top, arms straight. Push hard and fast: 5–6 cm deep, at 100–120 per minute — about two pushes every second. Let the chest come fully back up between pushes.
6. If trained: after every 30 compressions give 2 rescue breaths — head back, pinch the nose, seal your mouth over theirs, blow for about 1 second until the chest rises. Continue 30:2.
7. If untrained or unwilling: give continuous hands-only compressions without stopping. That alone saves lives.
8. Do not stop until help takes over, an AED tells you what to do, the person clearly wakes and breathes, or you are too exhausted. Swap with someone every 2 minutes if you can.

Adult or child over 1 year

1. Ask "Are you choking?" If they can cough, speak or cry — encourage them to keep coughing and do nothing else yet.
2. Cough becomes weak or silent, they cannot breathe or speak: give 5 back blows — lean them well forward and strike hard between the shoulder blades with the heel of your hand. Check the mouth after each blow.
3. Still stuck: give 5 abdominal thrusts — stand behind them, put your fist just above the belly button, grasp it with your other hand, and pull sharply inwards and upwards.
4. Alternate: 5 back blows, 5 abdominal thrusts. Have someone call 112 / 911 / 999.
5. If they become unresponsive: lower them to the ground and start CPR (topic 1) — compressions can push the object out. Remove from the mouth only what you can clearly see and grasp.

1. Send someone to call 112 / 911 / 999.
2. Press hard directly on the wound with a clean cloth, dressing or your hand (use gloves or a plastic bag over your hand if you can).
3. Blood soaks through? Do not remove the soaked dressing — add more layers on top and keep pressing.
4. Lie the person down. Raise the bleeding limb above heart level if nothing looks broken.
5. Something stuck in the wound? Do not pull it out — pad and press around it instead.
6. Watch for shock — pale, cold, sweaty, faint: keep them lying down, raise the legs if uninjured, cover them to keep warm, keep pressure on.

1. Get the burn under cool running water and keep it there for 20 minutes. Starting any time within 3 hours of the burn still helps.
2. While cooling, remove rings, watches, belts and loose clothing near the burn — but never fabric that is stuck to the skin.
3. Keep the person warm with a blanket or dry cloth — cool the burn, not the person (small children chill fast).
4. After cooling, cover the burn loosely: clingfilm laid lengthways (not wrapped tight), a clean plastic bag, or a clean non-fluffy cloth.
5. Their usual painkiller (such as paracetamol) can help with pain.

1. Move everyone away from the snake. Do not try to catch or kill it — a photo from a safe distance is enough for the hospital.
2. Arrange transport or an ambulance immediately. The real treatment is antivenom at a hospital — major referral hospitals stock it. Call ahead so they can prepare.
3. Keep the person calm and completely still — movement and panic pump venom around the body faster.
4. Remove rings, watches, bangles and tight clothing near the bite before swelling starts.
5. Immobilise the bitten limb with a splint or sling and keep it roughly level with the heart. Carry the person rather than letting them walk, if you can.
6. Note the time of the bite and any symptoms (swelling, drooping eyelids, bleeding, vomiting) — tell the hospital.

1. Stay calm and note the time — you need to know how long the seizure lasts.
2. Protect them from injury: move hard or sharp objects away and cushion the head with something soft (folded jacket, hands).
3. Do not hold them down, and put nothing in the mouth — they cannot swallow their tongue; objects in the mouth break teeth and block the airway.
4. Loosen anything tight around the neck; remove glasses.
5. When the jerking stops: open the airway and roll them into the recovery position (topic 7). Stay with them and reassure — confusion and sleepiness afterwards are normal.

Breathing normally but not responding? Put them on their side so the tongue and any vomit cannot block the airway.

1. Kneel beside them. Straighten their legs. Place the arm nearest you at a right angle to their body, palm facing up.
2. Bring the far arm across the chest and hold the back of their hand against their near cheek.
3. With your other hand, pull the far knee up so the foot is flat on the ground.
4. Keeping their hand pressed to the cheek, pull the bent knee towards you to roll them onto their side, facing you.
5. Tilt the head back gently so the airway stays open. Set the top leg so hip and knee are at right angles — it stops them rolling.
6. Call 112 / 911 / 999. Check breathing every minute and keep them warm. If breathing stops or is not normal — roll them onto their back and start CPR (topic 1).

1. Find out what was taken, how much and when. Keep the container, packet, tablets or plant.
2. Call 112 / 911 / 999 (or a poison information line) with the container in your hand — they will ask what is written on it.
3. Do not make them vomit, and give no food, drink or "antidotes" unless a health professional tells you to.
4. Chemical on the lips or mouth? Rinse the mouth with water — spit, do not swallow. Poison on skin or clothes: remove the clothing and rinse the skin with running water. In the eye: rinse the open eye continuously with clean water.
5. Drowsy or unconscious but breathing — recovery position (topic 7). Not breathing — CPR (topic 1); give hands-only compressions if there is poison around the mouth.
6. Take the container with you to the hospital.

Heard a crack, limb looks bent, severe swelling, or they cannot put weight on it? Treat it as broken until an X-ray says otherwise.

Suspected fracture

1. Keep the limb exactly as you found it. Do not straighten it, and never push a protruding bone back in.
2. Support above and below the injury with your hands and padding — rolled kanga, towels, clothing.
3. Arm: support it in a sling — a triangle of cloth or a scarf, wrist slightly higher than the elbow. Leg: pad between the legs and tie gently to the good leg only if you must move them.
4. Open wound over the break: cover it and press around, not on, the bone.
5. Nothing to eat or drink — they may need surgery. Call 112 / 911 / 999 for thigh, hip, pelvis, back or neck injuries, and do not move those at all.

Sprain — remember RICE

1. R — Rest: stop using the joint.
2. I — Ice: a cold pack or ice wrapped in cloth (never directly on skin), 15–20 minutes, repeat every 2–3 hours.
3. C — Compression: a firm (not tight) elastic bandage while awake.
4. E — Elevation: raise it on a pillow above heart level when sitting.

1. Do not jump in — a panicking person can pull you under, and then there are two victims. Reach with a stick, pole or cloth, or throw something that floats (empty jerrican, rope, ball). Shout for help and call 112 / 911 / 999.
2. A swimming rescue is for trained lifesavers or, at most, from a boat.
3. Once out of the water: check response and check breathing — no more than 10 seconds.
4. Not breathing? If trained, give 5 initial rescue breaths first, then CPR 30:2. If untrained, give hands-only CPR and follow the dispatcher's instructions.
5. Do not press the stomach or try to "empty the water" — it wastes time and causes vomiting.
6. Breathing? Recovery position (topic 7), remove wet clothes, cover and keep warm.

1. Do not touch them while they may still be connected to the power — the current will pass into you.
2. Switch off at the mains or unplug. If you cannot, stand on dry insulating material (dry wood, rubber mat) and push the source away with a dry non-conductor — a dry wooden stick, plastic chair or broom handle. Never anything metal or wet.
3. Fallen power line or anything high-voltage (pylons, transformers, railway lines): stay well back — at least 20 metres — keep others away and call 112 / 911 / 999 and Kenya Power (97771). Do not approach for any reason.
4. Once the power is definitely off: check response and breathing. Not breathing — CPR (topic 1).
5. Cool any burns under running water for 20 minutes. Look for two burn marks — where the current entered and where it left.

1. Sit them down and lean them forward — never back.
2. Pinch the soft part of the nose, just below the bony bridge, firmly for 10 minutes without letting go. Breathe through the mouth.
3. Spit out any blood in the mouth rather than swallowing it — swallowed blood causes vomiting.
4. A cold compress on the bridge of the nose helps slow the bleeding.
5. Still bleeding after 10 minutes? Pinch for 10 more. After it stops: no nose-blowing, picking or hot drinks for a few hours.

In a known diabetic, suspect low sugar if they are suddenly shaky, sweaty, hungry, pale, confused, moody, slurring words or sleepy.

1. Conscious and able to swallow? Give fast sugar now: glucose tablets, half a glass of soda or juice (not diet or sugar-free), 3 teaspoons of sugar or glucose stirred in water, or sweets.
2. Recheck in 15 minutes (test if a glucometer is available). Still shaky or confused — repeat the fast sugar.
3. When they improve, give a longer-lasting snack — bread, banana, milk or a proper meal — so the sugar does not crash again.
4. Drowsy, unable to swallow safely, or unconscious? Give nothing by mouth. Roll them into the recovery position (topic 7) and call 112 / 911 / 999.
5. No improvement after two rounds of sugar, a seizure, or they pass out — treat as an emergency.